District Attorney George Gascon announced yesterday that in addition to filing manslaughter charges against the 23-year-old cyclist who struck and killed 67-year-old Dionette Cherney at Mission and Embarcadero on July 15 (she died in the hospital several weeks later), his office is also considering charges in three other recent deaths involving vehicles, including the August 19 Muni accident at 18th and Hartford, and the tragic July 14 accident at Octavia and Oak involving a UCSF shuttle that killed Dr. Kevin Mack.
Randolph Ang, 23, is the cyclist charged in the July 15 collision, and he pleaded not guilty last week to the charge of involuntary vehicular manslaughter. Gascon is also considering charges against the SUV driver who struck and killed a 59-year-old man at 14th and Noe on September 6.
Gascon joined forces with the bicycle mafia and pedestrian advocates yesterday to call for safer streets during the holiday season which is a time when there is typically an uptick in pedestrians getting hit by vehicles, because there are more people out in the streets and it gets darker earlier. Pedestrian advocate Elizabeth Stampe, executive director of the nonprofit Walk San Francisco, threw out the figure that 800 people get hit by cars in San Francisco each year. So yeah, guys, watch out! All of you!
